potato or white potato, common name for a perennial plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the family Solanaceae (nightshade nightshade, common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping types, and rank-smelling foliage is typical of many species.
..... Click the link for more information. family) and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widely used vegetables in Western temperate climates. The plant is probably native to the Andes, where it was cultivated by the Incas. In pre-Columbian times its culture spread widely among Native Americans, for whom it was a staple food. Its history is difficult to trace, partly because the name potato was also used by early writers for the sweet potato sweet potato, trailing perennial plant (Ipomoea batatas) of the family Convolvulaceae ( morning glory family), native to the New World tropics. Cultivated from ancient times by the Aztecs for its edible tubers, it was introduced into Europe in the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (Ipomoea batatas) and for other unrelated plants. Spanish explorers are believed to have brought it in the 16th cent. from Peru to Spain, whence it spread N and W throughout Europe. It was brought to North America by European settlers probably c.1600; thus, like the closely related tomato, it is a reintroduced food plant in the New World. The potato was first accepted as a large-scale crop in the British Isles. It became the major food in Ireland during the 18th cent. and is hence often called Irish potato to distinguish it from the sweet potato. Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the failure (resulting from blight) of the 1845–46 crop caused a famine resulting in widespread disease, death, and emigration. The potato was also important to the course of history in the 20th cent. in Europe, especially in Germany, where it kept the country alive during two world wars. With its high carbohydrate content, the potato is today a primary food of Western peoples, as well as a source of starch, flour, alcohol, dextrin, and fodder (chiefly in Europe, where more is used for this purpose than for human consumption). It grows best in a cool, moist climate; in the United States mostly in Maine and Idaho. Germany, Russia, and Poland are the greatest potato-producing countries of Europe. Potatoes are usually propagated by planting pieces of the tubers that bear two or three "eyes," the buds of the underground stems. The plant is sensitive to frost, is subject to certain fungus and virus diseases (e.g., mosaic, wilt, and blight), and is attacked by several insect pests, especially the potato beetle potato beetle, name for two beetles of the leaf beetle family and for two of the blister beetle family, all destructive to the potato plant and its relatives.
..... Click the link for more information. . Nutritionally, the potato is high in carbohydrates and a good source of protein, vitamin C, the B vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. Most of the minerals and protein are concentrated in a thin layer beneath the skin, and the skin itself is a source of food fiber; health authorities therefore recommend cooking and eating it unpeeled. Potatoes are classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə)
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Polemoniales, family Solanaceae.
Herbaceous annual (Solanum tuberosum) in the nightshade family. One of the world's main food crops, the potato differs from other food crops in that the edible portion is a tuber. Highly digestible, potatoes are prepared for eating in many ways and are a major source of starch as well as amino acids, protein, vitamin C, and B vitamins. The stem grows 20–40 in. (50–100 cm) tall, sprouting spirally arranged compound leaves. Underground, stems extend as stolons, the ends of which enlarge into 1–20 tubers of variable shape and size. The tubers have spirally arranged buds (eyes) that may remain dormant after the tuber is fully grown for up to 10 weeks or more; they grow into plants identical to the parent plant. A native of the Andes, the potato (also known as the common potato, white potato, or Irish potato) was carried by Spaniards into Europe during the 16th century. A century later, it had become the major food crop in Ireland; disastrous damage to the crop by a fungal blight caused the Irish potato famine in the mid-1800s. See also sweet potato.
potato
..... Click the link for more information. family) and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widely used vegetables in Western temperate climates. The plant is probably native to the Andes, where it was cultivated by the Incas. In pre-Columbian times its culture spread widely among Native Americans, for whom it was a staple food. Its history is difficult to trace, partly because the name potato was also used by early writers for the sweet potato sweet potato, trailing perennial plant (Ipomoea batatas) of the family Convolvulaceae ( morning glory family), native to the New World tropics. Cultivated from ancient times by the Aztecs for its edible tubers, it was introduced into Europe in the 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (Ipomoea batatas) and for other unrelated plants. Spanish explorers are believed to have brought it in the 16th cent. from Peru to Spain, whence it spread N and W throughout Europe. It was brought to North America by European settlers probably c.1600; thus, like the closely related tomato, it is a reintroduced food plant in the New World. The potato was first accepted as a large-scale crop in the British Isles. It became the major food in Ireland during the 18th cent. and is hence often called Irish potato to distinguish it from the sweet potato. Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the failure (resulting from blight) of the 1845–46 crop caused a famine resulting in widespread disease, death, and emigration. The potato was also important to the course of history in the 20th cent. in Europe, especially in Germany, where it kept the country alive during two world wars. With its high carbohydrate content, the potato is today a primary food of Western peoples, as well as a source of starch, flour, alcohol, dextrin, and fodder (chiefly in Europe, where more is used for this purpose than for human consumption). It grows best in a cool, moist climate; in the United States mostly in Maine and Idaho. Germany, Russia, and Poland are the greatest potato-producing countries of Europe. Potatoes are usually propagated by planting pieces of the tubers that bear two or three "eyes," the buds of the underground stems. The plant is sensitive to frost, is subject to certain fungus and virus diseases (e.g., mosaic, wilt, and blight), and is attacked by several insect pests, especially the potato beetle potato beetle, name for two beetles of the leaf beetle family and for two of the blister beetle family, all destructive to the potato plant and its relatives.
..... Click the link for more information. . Nutritionally, the potato is high in carbohydrates and a good source of protein, vitamin C, the B vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. Most of the minerals and protein are concentrated in a thin layer beneath the skin, and the skin itself is a source of food fiber; health authorities therefore recommend cooking and eating it unpeeled. Potatoes are classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə)
..... Click the link for more information. , class Magnoliopsida, order Polemoniales, family Solanaceae.
potato
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Potato (Solanum tuberosum).
(credit: Grant Heilman)
potato
1.
a. a solanaceous plant, Solanum tuberosum, of South America: widely cultivated for its edible tubers
b. the starchy oval tuber of this plant, which has a brown or red skin and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable
2. any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato
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